RATT's BOBBY BLOTZER On STEPHEN PEARCY: 'He Has Kept Us Hostage For Years'

On April 28, Eddie Trunk — co-host of the VH1 Classic television program "That Metal Show" — conducted an interview with RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer for Eddie's show "Trunk Nation", which airs live Mondays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST on SiriusXM's Hair Nation, XM channel 39 and Sirius channel 39. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On singer Stephen Pearcy's recent announcement that he was quitting RATT and focusing on his solo career:

Bobby: "Everything [Stephen] says is delusional and complete lies. I mean, I have two pages of notes here that I can refute anything he says. He's so destructive.

"I'm not here to just go, 'Boom boom boom boom. Stephen is a bastard, he's a prick' — which he is, basically, all that — [but] there is a nice Stephen that I love.

"We get along on the road, have been getting along on the road, but Stephen doesn't know how to play ball, he's not a team player. It's Stephen's way or there's no way at all.

"You can't get Stephen on the phone, you can't have band meetings with him. If you do get him on the phone, we have the four of us and our manager, including our manager — and all of these people will attest to this — he's nowhere to be found. And if he gets on there, he disappears. He's gotta go to the dentist every time. He goes to the dentist more than dentists go to their own offices. So, I don't know… That one's getting a little old.

"But the problem is, he walked. He walks on everything. He's walked four times. Again, this year, he's walked… He's tortured us. I mean, he's kept us hostage for years. 'I'm quitting. I'm not going.' He's canceled shows, he's canceled tours. He won't get on the airplane unless some money from the tour is fronted up front. He's not paying for any of the bills, although he gets an even cut, penny for penny. He makes what I make. He has the same vote. He has more of a vote than I do a lot of times. We all have an equal vote, but if I'm outvoted, I'm outvoted on whatever we're voting on. It's just the way it goes; I roll with the punches. He doesn't. He wants ownership of the name, and he's just not the kind of person you can give that to. He's a pistol that can just shoot at any time. He leaves, as we see, all the time. Every November, he's quitting the band."

On the specific issues that have led to disagreements withing RATT in the last few years:

"In 2010, we put that great record ['Infestation'] out. It's amazing that record turned out that well, 'cause we, actually, didn't work on it that long. That record came quick. And it could have been a lot harder to do, but [producer Michael] 'Elvis' Baskette, I tip my hat to him, he kept everybody in check. We had 20 songs we worked up, of which 12 we recorded.

"Stephen, I wasn't there when he did his parts, but I know that he wasn't in the best shape at that time, so I was pretty worried as to what was coming. But lo and behold, when I got the rough mixes of his parts… 'Cause we recorded the music, us four guys, without him being there or anything like that; kind of standard procedure. I mean, we never used to know in RATT what the songs were gonna be, 'cause Stephen wouldn't come down and sing at rehearsals. We would write music and he would take it and not show anybody what he was writing. Then he would get with our our producer and they work on the melodies, or he would get with Juan [Croucier, bass] later… It was just not your standard collaborational effort. But that record turned out great. So then we finished the tour. And then, because he wants this ownership in the name, which Warren [DeMartini, guitar] and I technically own…

"If we're not touring with the whole band, our thing is, Warren, mainly, was, like, I don't wanna tour unless it's all four of us, or all three of us at least, at first. 'Cause we don't give Stephen the name because you can't trust him. We don't wanna end up back in court like we did in 2002 when we won the rights to the name, [Warren] and I. Again, we have an even vote system, and that's just not enough for him, or Juan. And that's… I'm not gonna speak for everybody here, but that was the main thing."

"His ego-driven ways couldn't allow the fact that his band… 'It's my band, I started this band.' It's, like, dude, let's get this real. You had a garage band in 1979 called MICKEY RATT, you moved to L.A., you changed members around, we ended up with this caliber of players, and it was, guess what?! Magic happened, we were lucky, an EP came out that got us a record deal, and the rest is history. Five million records [sold] of 'Out Of The Cellar', blah blah blah blah. And we're still in business 33 years later, and he's still causing trouble continually.

"Why does he wanna beat the shit out of me, and he won't even mention my name, is I'm the only one that will confront him on this. And confront him on, 'Dude, you can't go on stage in this condition. Don't be motioning to my drum tech to get you a glass of Jack when we're playing.' 'Cause we all have agreed to not drink and get intoxicated on stage.

"I don't care if somebody has a couple of beers. But you know what?! When you're slamming Jack and whatever else you're taking — I'm not in his area all the time — but let's face it, man: we need him in his top form, he needs to be playing at his top game.

"I think the rest of the band has proven — and you can go to YouTube, that we do — we go out there and we kick ass, and we're concise and we fucking play really good. And you know what?! We're nice to the fans. And that's another thing with him — he's not a very nice person to the fans. And that always bugs me.

"But do I want him in the band? Yes, I do. I want the nice Stephen in the band. But you know what?! He just can't see the writing. When you show the paper, [he goes], 'I'm getting ripped off. I didn't get paid.'"

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